ATEST Provides Comments for 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) today submitted comments to the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (JTIP) for consideration in developing tier rankings and country narratives for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report.
ATEST provided two letters to J/TIP, with detailed accomplishments and deficiencies for the U.S. ranking, and a comment about the impact of suspending programs in all countries that receive anti-trafficking support from the U.S.
February 3, 2025
Acting Director Rachel M. Poynter
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
U.S. State Department
Washington, D.C.
Via email: [email protected]
RE: Request for Information for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, United States Government (Public Notice: 12590)
Dear Ms. Poynter:
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the creation of the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report. The J/TIP team’s diligence in soliciting and integrating information from civil society organizations bolsters the credibility of the TIP Report as a tool to promote global governmental action.
ATEST is a U.S.-based coalition that advocates for solutions to prevent and end forced labor and human trafficking around the world. We advocate for lasting solutions to prevent forced labor and sex trafficking, hold perpetrators accountable, ensure justice for victims and empower survivors with tools for recovery. Our collective experience implementing programs at home and abroad in more than 30 U.S. cities and 100 countries provides our coalition with an unparalleled breadth and depth of expertise. ATEST provides U.S. policymakers with detailed recommendations for action; our memo to the incoming Trump Administration can be found here.
U.S. ACCOMPLISHMENTS
There have been promising actions taken during the reporting period of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. These include:
- Continued Implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: This legislation takes important steps to ensure the United States does not import goods made by forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. It not only protects exploited workers overseas, it protects American businesses, workers and consumers from the impacts of forced labor abroad. As of January 31, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports more than 5,400 tainted shipments worth more than $3.6 billion have been blocked to date at U.S. ports of entry. DHS continues to solicit input from civil society organizations through quarterly meetings and publicly lists enforcement statistics and the names of entities determined to be prohibited from importing goods. The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which coordinates interagency work to implement the Act, is a model of cooperative whole-of-government coordination. It should be noted, though, that the implementation of the Act has diverted resources from enforcement of the Tariff Act’s ban on importation of tainted goods from other countries.
- Expanding Efforts to Block Tainted Trade: The Labor Department’s International Labor Affairs Bureau in 2024 published its latest list of goods prohibited from import into the U.S. because they are made by forced or child labor. This list not only helps protect exploited workers overseas, it protects American businesses, workers and consumers from the impacts of forced labor abroad by helping block tainted trade that undercuts America’s economy. For the first time, the list goes beyond raw inputs to include items made overseas with tainted raw inputs. Also, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in January 2025 published a Trade Strategy to Combat Forced Labor, recognizing forced labor as an unfair trade practice that must be combated in the negotiation of America’s international trade agreements.
- Researching Prevalence: Congress has mandated in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act that the U.S. government develop methodologies to determine the extent of trafficking inside the U.S. The goal is to help anti-trafficking decision makers prioritize resources to locations and economic sectors where they will have the greatest impact. An important step in this process was completed in 2024 with a report by the Rand Corporation, conducted for the National Institute of Justice, which convened governmental, academic and civil society organization experts to identify key research needs, risks and opportunities. It was an important first step; ATEST recommends that this research work continue.
- Advancing Survivor Leadership: The U.S. government has continued to advance the goal of survivor engagement and leadership by institutionalizing mechanisms for lived experience experts to shape public policy and implementation. These include the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, training and technical assistance centers at the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, the Human Trafficking Leadership Academy, and the Human Trafficking Consultant Expert Network. While executive branch agencies have made progress in integrating survivor expertise, members of the Advisory Council would benefit from increased policy training on the detailed operations of federal agencies. As well, Congress needs to develop formal mechanisms to ensure that lived experience counsel is provided in the development of new legislation. A harmful bill threatening the privacy of callers to the National Human Trafficking Hotline advanced at the committee level in the House of Representatives in 2024 without any survivor input and without a public hearing. ATEST recommendations for expanding survivor involvement throughout executive branch agencies can be found in our transition memo to the incoming administration.
- Demonstrating Economic Benefits of Anti-trafficking Work: Research funded in part by U.S. Labor Dept. was completed and released in 2024, revealing that ending forced labor will boost the global economy in a net positive cost/benefit calculation. The research calculates that an investment of $212 billion worldwide over five years, roughly $42 billion per year, will lead to a $611 billion increase of global GDP. This research helps underscore the economic case for continued and expanded action.
- Improving T-Visa Rules to Protect Victims/Survivors: The Department of Homeland Security implemented a new rule in 2024 to improve the way America’s T-Visa program operates. Congress established the T-visa program with bipartisan support in 2000 to enable foreign national trafficking victims to remain in the U.S. to assist U.S. law enforcement during the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers. The Department of Homeland Security designed the T-visa with the dual purpose of stabilizing trafficking victims and promoting cooperation between law enforcement and trafficking victims. The T-visa encourages human trafficking victims to report their victimization to law enforcement and enables victims to participate in the detection, investigation or prosecution of the crimes committed against them, even if they lack lawful immigration status.
- Strengthening Protection of Guest Workers: The Department of Homeland Security began implementation of its new rule for H2-A and H2-B temporary guest workers in January 2025. DHS notes: “The final rule significantly strengthens worker protections by, among other things, imposing new consequences on companies that charge prohibited fees or violate our labor laws, and provides greater flexibility for H-2A and H-2B workers.”
- Adopting Prevention Strategies: The Department of Health and Human Services began implementation throughout 2024 of its new framework to approach human trafficking as a public health challenge. The framework underscores how addressing root causes can stop trafficking in the U.S. before it occurs.
- Protecting Domestic Workers Brought to the U.S. by Diplomats: The State Department Protocol Office educates diplomatic domestic workers about their rights when they enter the U.S., and provides periodic monitoring to prevent forced labor and other forms of exploitation. This program has been expanded beyond Washington and New York to include other locations in the U.S. where foreign countries have diplomatic offices.
U.S. DEFICIENCIES
There are important deficiencies to factor into the tier ranking and country narrative for the United States during the reporting period of April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. These include:
- Failure to Fully Reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act: Two bills, one passed by the House of Representatives, and one passed by the Senate, failed to receive final passage during the 118th This has left significant gaps in the U.S. government’s anti-trafficking response, including:
- Funding authorization for trafficking victim and survivor programs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including funding to operate the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
- Funding authorization for the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in persons (J/TIP), which creates the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, runs the President’s Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking and the Senior Policy Operating Group to coordinate anti-trafficking programs across federal agencies, supports the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, and provides grants that support governmental and civil society anti-trafficking programs around the world.
- Overemphasis on Sex Trafficking: Global U.N. estimates and statistics from direct service providers indicate that labor trafficking is more prevalent than sex trafficking. However, U.S. law enforcement focuses more heavily on sex trafficking than labor trafficking. The most recent data available in the Human Trafficking Institute’s 2023 Federal Human Trafficking Report (published in June 2024) show 98% of federal trafficking prosecutions were for sex trafficking and only 2% were for labor trafficking. This leaves the majority of trafficking situations with inadequate investigations and prosecutions as required in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Some progress to correct this imbalance may have occurred during the reporting period: New teams were to have been established within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security with funding and agents dedicated solely to investigating forced labor trafficking. This was mandated by Congress. Data is not publicly available at this date on the status of the implementation of these important actions and their impact.
- Inequitable State-by-State Patchwork for Vacatur of Criminal Convictions: Previous TIP Reports have noted the need for vacatur laws that encompass a range of non-violent offenses that victims are forced to commit by their trafficker. But there is an absence of uniform state action in this area. Some states are leading the way with model legislation, though many states are failing to provide survivors with this essential element of protection. Furthermore, there is a critical need for a federal vacatur law. A vacatur bill was introduced in the 118th Congress but failed to advance.
- Failure to Create a National Victim Protocol: States across the U.S. continue to arrest trafficking victims for crimes committed as a result of their trafficking situation. And the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have failed to develop legislatively mandated protocols for law enforcement agencies to treat trafficked individuals as victims and not as criminals.
- Increased Trafficking Risk Along the Southern Border: The suspension in January 2025 of the U.S. government’s asylum application system means that individuals who are fleeing human trafficking in their country of origin and are seeking safety in the U.S. must rely on unsafe informal pathways to enter the country. This puts them at substantial risk of trafficking and fuels criminals who thrive on exploiting desperate asylum seekers.
Again, our thanks for your diligent efforts to ensure the TIP Report’s tier rankings and country narratives include input from civil society. Should you have any questions, please reach out to ATEST Director Terry FitzPatrick: [email protected] or Cell 571-282-9913.
Sincerely,
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking
February 3, 2025
Acting Director Rachel M. Poynter
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
U.S. State Department
Washington, D.C.
Via email: [email protected]
RE: Request for Information for the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report Foreign Governments (Public Notice: 12590)
Dear Ms. Poynter:
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the creation of the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report. The J/TIP team’s diligence in soliciting and integrating information from civil society organizations bolsters the credibility of the TIP Report as a tool to promote global governmental action.
ATEST is a U.S.-based coalition that advocates for solutions to prevent and end forced labor and human trafficking around the world. We advocate for lasting solutions to prevent forced labor and sex trafficking, hold perpetrators accountable, ensure justice for victims and empower survivors with tools for recovery. Our collective experience implementing programs at home and abroad in more than 30 U.S. cities and 100 countries provides our coalition with an unparalleled breadth and depth of expertise. ATEST provides U.S. policymakers with detailed recommendations for action; our memo to the incoming Trump Administration can be found here.
ATEST requests that the J/TIP Office include impacts of the recent stop-work order for international anti-trafficking projects when determining tier rankings and crafting narratives for each country where a foreign government’s anti-trafficking efforts have been supported by the State Department or USAID. Stopping work because of a funding interruption will have negative impacts on a country’s anti-trafficking effectiveness. The stop-work instruction has just been issued, so it is too soon at this writing to report on-the-ground impacts.
Again, our thanks for your diligent efforts to ensure the TIP Report’s tier rankings and country narratives include input from civil society. Should you have any questions, please reach out to ATEST Director Terry FitzPatrick: [email protected] or Cell 571-282-9913.
Sincerely,
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking
